64 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



becoming paler with age. The viscid pellicle, during the expansion 

 of the pileus, fails to keep pace in its growth with the pileus- 

 periphery so that, when the pileus has become flattened, it is found 

 to be restricted to the central region of the pileus including the disc. 

 Its retirement from the peripheral zone of the pileus leaves the 



Fig. 30. — Bolbitius flavidus. Fruit-bodies coining up in a 

 grassy field near Birmingham, England. A, unexpanded ; 

 B, C, and D, expanding ; E, fully expanded and shedding 

 spores without autodigestion of the gills. Natural size. 



delicate gUls in that region without a covering. The dull chocolate- 

 yellow colour of the peripheral portion of the pUeus is in part due to 

 the somewhat chocolate-coloured spores, which show through the 

 translucent gills. 



The gills are always extremely thin and watery ; in pOei having a 

 diameter of 3 -5 cm. they are 1 -5 cm. long and -4 cm. broad at the 

 centre, but in an exceptionally large pileus having a diameter of 

 8 cm. they may be 3 • 5 cm. long and • 7 cm. broad. At first, in the 

 unexpanded pileus, they are yellowish- white ; but, as the pileus 



